Terry aprons and similar garments



June 20, 1961 R. 0. WHITLEY ET AL 2,988,745

TERRY APRONS AND SIMILAR GARMENTS Filed March 10, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS Robert Orr whiileya Jock ONecl Mlddleton ATTORNEYS June 20, 1961 R. o. WHITLEY ET AL TERRY APRONS AND SIMILAR GARMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 10, 1959 FIG.3.

27 INVENTORS Robert Orr Whitley 8 Jack O'Neul Middleton BY Maaw Alliltliillll I II II IIIIIL I 9.2: $5 246.

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ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,988,745 TERRY APRONS AND SIMILAR GARMENTS Robert Orr Whitley and Jack ONeal Middleton, La Grange, Ga., assignors to Callaway Mills Company, La Grange, Ga., a corporation of Georgia Filed Mar. 10, 1959, Ser. No. 798,361 1 Claim. (Cl. 2-48) The present invention relates to improvements in terry cloth aprons and similar garments.

Terry cloth aprons have proven quite popular in recent years for use by housewives and others. The terry cloth of the aprons has obvious advantages from the standpoint of absorbency and freedom from wrinkling. Efforts have been made to make such aprons more attractive by utilizing terry fabric for the main body of the apron and utilizing fiat woven fabric or other non-terry fabric, usual- 1y with a jacquard or dobby design, for the hem and waistband. Flat woven fabrics have also been used for the tie strings of the aprons. Such aprons have the advantage of greater attractiveness but they have the disadvantage that, after laundering, it has been necessary to press or iron the hem, waistband and tie strings to eliminate unsightly wrinkles.

The present invention obtains the advantages of attractive appearance of terry fabric aprons and, at the same time, eliminates the need for pressing or ironing after laundering. The hem and waistband portions are made of two-ply material. The ply which is exposed at the front of those portions of the garment is made of decorative, fiat woven or non-terry material which includes a design, such as a jacquard or dobby design. The ply which is exposed at the rear of those portions of the garment is of one-sided terry fabric with the terry face exposed. It has been found that the springy, wrinkle resistance of the one-sided terry fabric minimizes formation of wrinkles in the decorative ply during laundering and actually has a tendency to absorb or smooth out any wrinkles which are formed in the decorative ply. The tie strings of the apron are formed of one-sided terry fabric formed into tubes with the terry surface outermost. The tie strings thus formed have no tendency to wrinkle and, at the same time, are not objectionably bulky.

One of the primary objects of the invention is to provide terry fabric aprons having decorative portions of non-terry fabric which require no pressing or ironing after laundermg.

Another object of the invention is to porvide a terry fabric garment having highly satisfactory tie strings which require no pressing or ironing after laundering.

Other objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in the following description which has reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of an apron constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the hem portion of an apron utilizing a modified construction;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a piece of fabric utilized in forming the hem portion of the garment illustrated in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through a piece of fabric utilized in forming the hem portion illustrated in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a piece of fabric utilized in forming the waistband portion of the garment;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 1; and

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FIGURE 8 is a transverse sectional view of a piece of fabric from which a plurality of tie strings may be cut.

The main body 9 of the apron is formed of two-sided terry fabric having terry loops 10 and 11 on the front and rear faces thereof, respectively. The body 9 is preferably woven parallel with selvages 12 and 13. A short length 14 of the upper end of the body 9 has no terry loops on either face thereof. The material at the upper end of the body 9 is gathered as indicated at 15 and has a waistband portion, designated generally by the reference numeral 16, secured thereto by stitching 17.

The waistband 16 is formed in two plies. The ply 18, which forms the front of the waistband, is of flat woven fabric and includes a decorative design 19, such as a jacquard or dobby design, on its exposed front face. The ply 20 of the waistband, which forms the back thereof, is of one-sided terry fabric which has terry loops 21 on the exposed rear face thereof. FIGURE 6 illustrates the manner in which the material for the waistband may be woven by first weaving the one-sided terry fabric 20 followed by Weaving the decorative portion 18. The decorative face of the portion 18 is on the same side in FIGURE 6 as the terry loops on the portion 20. The portions 18 and 20 of the waistband are then folded upon themselves and secured to the body 9 by the stitching 17, as clearly illustrated in FIGURE 2.

In the hem construction illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 4, the double-faced terry fabric of the body 9 is followed by a length 22 of one-sided terry fabric having terry loops 23 on the rear face. As seen in FIGURE 4, the length of one-sided terry fabric 22 is followed by a length of flat woven fabric 24 having a decorative design 25 on the same side as the terry loops 23 on the portion 22. The fiat woven portion 24 is then folded upwardly and forwardly and stitched to the one-sided terry portion 22 by means of stitching 26.

The modified hem construction illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 5 is formed by providing at the lower end of the two-sided terry fabric body 9a a length of flat woven fabric 27 having a design on its front face, followed by a length 28 of one-sided terry fabric having terry loops 29. The one-sided terry fabric portion 28 is folded upwardly and rearwardly as indicated in FIGURE 3 and is stitched to the decorative portion 27 along the line of stitching 30.

The tie strings 31 and 32 are similar and only one need be described. The tie string 31 is formed of one-sided terry fabric 33 having terry loops 34 on all except the edges of the fabric. The fabric 33 is folded longitudinal- 1y with the ter-ry loops on the outside and the edges are stitglsied together by overedging or otherwise, as indicated at FIGURE 8 illustrates a convenient operation for producing a plurality of tie strings at the same time. The fabric 33 is woven simultaneously with similar portions 36 and 37, with the portions being separated by portions 38 and 39 of flat woven fabric. The fabric thus produced is then out along the middle of the portions 38 and 39 prior to folding and overedging. It will be apparent that a large number of :tie strings may be simultaneously produced in this manner.

It will be seen that the main body of the apron is of two-sided terry fabric which, because of its inherent wrinkle resistance, requires no pressing after laundering. The main body 9 of the apron may be of one-sided terry fabric, having terry loops 10 on only the front face thereof, and still have inherent Wrinkle resistance. The decorative flat woven hem and waist band portions have backings of one-sided terry fabric which tend to prevent the formation of wrinkles in the decorative fabric during laundering. As a matter of fact, the springy, wrinkle resistance of the one-sided terry fabric seems to absorb or smooth out any wrinkles which may [form in the decorative fabric. The tie strings are also resistant to formation of wrinkles, either during laundering or while the strings are tied. The 'tie strings are preferably of fabric which is closely woven and with terry loops of low height to give the strings good body and to reduce the possibility of pulling the terry loops during tying or untying of the strings.

The elimination of the need for pressing terry fabric garments having flat woven decorative portions thereon is of great economic advantage, particularly in those instances in which the clean garments are supplied in large numbers to customers on a lease or rental basis.

We have illustrated and described what we now consider to be the preferred embodiments of the invention. It will be understood, however, that various modifications may be resorted to without departing from the broader scope of the invention which is defined by the claim.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

In a garment which presents an attractive, wrinkle-free appearance after laundering and Without pressing: a body portion of two-sided terry fabric; a hem portion of hem fabric integral with said body portion, said hem fabric comprising a length of flat woven decorative fabric having a decorative face and an integral similar length of onesided terry fabric, said decorative face and the terry surface of said one-sided terry fabric being disposed on the same surface of said hem fabric, said hem fabric being folded along the line separating the decorative fabric from the one-sided terry fabric to expose said decorative face and said terry surface of the one-sided terry fabric on the outer surfaces of the hem portion; and stitching extending parallel to the edge of said body portion and securing the ends of said hem fabric together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,729,817 Bullard Oct. 1, 1929 2,620,474 Millsap Dec. 9, 1952 2,620,475 Legg et a1 Dec. 9, 1952 2,635,243 Eskey Apr. 21, 1953 2,674,738 Mehlos Apr. 13, 1954 2,708,273 Bonaventura May 17, 1955 2,835,895 Wells May 27, 1958 

